Voiced labial–velar approximant

The voiced labial–velar approximant is a consonant sound, used in some spoken languages including English. It is the sound denoted by the letter  in the English alphabet.; see the examples on the fifth page. Similarly, the symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is w. In most languages it is the semivocalic counterpart of the close back rounded vowel .

Features
Features of the voiced labial–velar approximant:

Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract enough for it to not be a vowel, but not enough to make a hissing type of noise (a fricative).
Its place of articulation is labialized velar, which means it is produced with the back part of the tongue raised toward the soft palate while rounding the lips.
Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence
 Language  Word  IPA  Meaning  Notes Abkhaz  ауаҩы/auaòy   'human'  See Abkhaz phonologyAlemannic  Bernese German     'boy'  Allophone of  Arabic  Modern Standard  /ward   'rose'  See Arabic phonology Assamese  ৱাশ্বিংটন/washington   'Washington'  Assyrian ܟܬܒ̣ܐ   ] 'book' Most speakers.  and  are used in the Urmia dialects. Basque      'four'  Belarusian  /voŭk  'wolf'  See Belarusian phonology Bengali  /uada   'promise'  Allophone of  and   when preceding a vowel word-initially. See Bengali phonologyBerber/awal'speech' Catalan      'fourth'  Post-lexically after  and . See Catalan phonology Chinese  Cantonese  /    'dig'  See Cantonese phonology Mandarin  /    See Mandarin phonology Danish      'ocean'  Allophone of  Dutch  Colloquial      'cold'  Lenited allophone of  after . See Dutch phonology Standard Surinamese      'cub'  May also occur in this context in some continental Dutch accents and/or dialects. Corresponds to  in most of the Netherlands and to  in Belgium and (southern) parts of the Netherlands. See Dutch phonology English      'weep'  See English phonology Esperanto      'car'  See Esperanto phonology French      'yes'  See French phonology German      'source'  Some regions Hawaiian      'fast'  May also be realized as . See Hawaiian phonology Hebrew  Oriental  /kowaḥ   'power'  See Modern Hebrew phonologyHindustaniHindi'believe'See Hindustani phonologyUrdu Irish      'vote'  See Irish phonology Italian      'man'  See Italian phonology Kabardian  /wǎ   'you'  Korean  /    'heron'  See Korean phonology Luxembourgish      'two'  Allophone of  after . See Luxembourgish phonology Malay      'money' MayanYucatecwitz'mountain' Nepali  'wind' See Nepali phonology  Odia  ଅଗ୍ରୱାଲ୍/agrawāl   'Agrawal'  Pashto  /war   'one time'  Persian  Dari  /warzeš   'sport'  Colloquial  /naw  ,   'new'  As a diphthong. Polish      'grace'  See Polish phonology. Corresponds to  in older pronunciation and eastern dialects Portuguese  Most dialects      'when'  Post-lexically after  and . See Portuguese phonology    'good' (f.)  Epenthetic glide or allophone of , following a stressed rounded vowel and preceding an unrounded one. General Brazilian      'which'  Allophone of  in coda position for most Brazilian dialects. Romanian      'mastiff'  See Romanian phonology Serbo-Croatian  Croatian      'wolf'  Allophone of  before . See Serbo-Croatian phonology Seri      'person'  Allophone of  Slovene      'church'  Allophone of  in the syllable coda. Voiceless  before voiceless consonants. See Slovene phonology Sotho  sewa    'epidemic'  See Sesotho phonology Spanish      'as much'  See Spanish phonology Swahili      'student'  Swedish  Central Standard      'go'  Labialized approximant consonant; allophone of  in casual speech before the protruded vowels . See Swedish phonology Tagalog  araw    'day'  See Tagalog phonology Thai   /waen    'ring'  Ukrainian  /voŭk  'wolf'  See Ukrainian phonology Vietnamese      'week' See Vietnamese phonology Welsh      'woe'  See Welsh phonology West Frisian      'to shove' 

Notes

References